Search under way for 4 missing miners

25 dead in explosion at W.Va. coal mine

by Lawrence Messina - Apr. 7, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

MONTCOAL, W.Va. - Rescuers held out slim hope Tuesday that four missing coal miners might have survived when a mine repeatedly cited for improperly venting methane gas exploded, killing 25 people in the country's deadliest underground disaster in a quarter-century.

A day after the blast in southern West Virginia, desperate rescuers began boring into the mine in hopes of releasing poisonous gases so crews could go in search of the men. Gov. Joe Manchin said it could be midday today before much progress is made.

"I don't want to give anybody any false hope, but by golly, if I'm on that side of the table, and that's my father or my brother or my uncle or my cousins, I'm going to have hope," he said.

The missing miners might have been able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for four days.

Rescue teams checked one of two chambers nearby, and it was empty. The buildup of gases prevented them from reaching the second chamber. Officials said they were 90 percent sure of the miners' location.

On Tuesday, bulldozers carved an access road to make way for drilling crews, who planned to dig four shafts to vent methane, a highly combustible gas that accumulates naturally in coal mines, and carbon monoxide from the blast site about 1,000 feet beneath the surface.

Crews began drilling two side-by-side holes that start at 12 inches in diameter and narrow to 6 inches. They hoped to open more holes later Tuesday evening.

Massey Energy Co. owns the Upper Big Branch Mine.

In an area where coal is king, people anxiously awaited word on the missing miners. One resident hung a "Praying 4 Our Miners" banner outside a home. At Libby's City Grill in nearby Whitesville, the accident was the talk at every breakfast table. Owner James Scott was grieving his own loss: His 58-year-old uncle, Deward Scott of Montcoal, was among the dead.

Neither his uncle nor his customers talked much about their work.

"I never heard anyone say anything about the mine, good or bad," James Scott said. "You just don't talk about it."

Diana Davis said her husband, Timmy Davis, 51, died in the explosion along with his nephews, Josh Napper, 27, and Cory Davis, 20.

The elder Davis' son, Timmy Davis Jr., described his father as passionate about the outdoors and the mines. "He loved to work underground," the younger Davis said. "He loved that place." Two other family members survived the blast, he said.

On Tuesday night, about 50 mourners packed the creaky pews at St. Joseph Catholic Church, a modest building on a lonely rural road a few miles from the mine. As a flute played and congregants prayed for the four missing miners, they mourners did their best to belt out hymns. Some wore their Sunday best while others wandered in wearing T-shirts, jeans and tattered baseball caps.

During pauses, some leaned over and consoled each other.

"It's such a terrible time for West Virginia, but it's so important to ask for God's help," said Bishop Michael J. Bransfield. "It demands our cares and it demands our prayers."

At the time of the explosion, 61 miners were in the mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston.

"Before you knew it, it was just like your ears stopped up. You couldn't hear. And the next thing you know, it's just like you're just right in the middle of a tornado," miner Steve Smith, who heard the explosion but was able to escape, told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Nine miners were leaving on a vehicle that takes them in and out of the mine's long shaft when a crew ahead of them felt a blast of air and went back to investigate, said Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The chief executive of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that a carbon-monoxide warning was the first sign of trouble. Mine crews were checking on the alarm when they discovered an explosion had occurred.

"I don't know that we know what happened," Blankenship said.

Some may have been killed by the blast and others when they inhaled the toxic gases, Stricklin said.